Sundance this week

Here we are, the Three Amigos standing on Main Street in Park City at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It's been a great week and a half... and only two more days to go.

I felt different coming to Sundance this year. I had a bit less energy, and sure enough, I got sick with a cold a few days ago. It's slowed me up slightly, but I'm doing well considering.

We've wrangled our share of Hollywood kids: Maggie Gyllenhaal (totally cute and sweet), Josh Hartnett (whose publicist actually combs his eyebrows before each photo line), Lucy Liu (is so mall she fits up Cheryl's nostril), Robert Downey Jr. (a bit shell-shocked) and Bobcat Goldthwait (hilarious and sweet and he's just sold a movie about a woman who blows a dog). It's not so much star fucking as it is herding cats.

On the Queer Front, we've been to a few events including the Queer Brunch (which is always a bit anti-climactic, but is a good excuse to drink vodka at 11:00am). The Homos Away From Home party last night was a ball, with lots of hot LA boys flown in for eye candy.

I haven't been taking any good photos, so I'll try over the next few days to do better.

See you kids at home in Calgary in a few days, and the rest of ya'll, hope to see you soon too.

Food food food

Some of the food from my trip, in chronological order:

1) A hole in the wall Iranian restaurant in the Al Satwa shopping district (where Cheryl got touched up last year). We weren't sure what to expect when we sat down, but as soon as the pleasant man started filling our table with fresh greens, homemade curry soups, fresh arabic bread and piles of other tasty morsels, a sudden happy satisfaction fell over the table. What had previously been an assortment of hungry, grumpy and sweaty film fest staffers, became a smiling, contented and well fed bunch of folks. Seasoned chicken, cool yogurt sauce, fresh veggies and plates of tahini and olives were SO GOOD at that moment. And all for the low low price of $4, or $2 for the vegetarians at the table.

2) Question: what is the best meat in the world? Answer: Fresh whole roasted lamb, stuffed with seasoned rice and served in the middle of the desert. Sweet and impossibly soft, this lamb was really, really impressive. This party also included smoking copious amounts of shisha, and climbing a sand dune in bare feet.

3) Artfully displayed plums, courtesy of the Grovenor House Hotel. Esthetically pleasing, but sadly lacking in flavour.

4) Our colleague and fellow Canadian Ron is to thank for hooking us up in business class for the flight from Dubai to Heathrow. This was lunch... grilled lobster tail, veggies, selection of fresh bread and some lovely wine. On linen. With a purple orchid as garnish. At 35, 000 ft.

When travelling it's often a challenge to find healthy quality food. We did pretty well most of the time. And as I've come to realize (and as my friends got tired of me pronouncing) for me, food is just as important for mental health as it is for simple nutrition.